a poet's notebook

27 April 2006

To write, or not to write...

Whimsy points us to a conversation at Book of Kells on writing, quantity & quality, and dogs. Kells tells a story about potters that suggests quantity leads to quality; Lyle tells a Zen story that suggests the opposite. It's a timely discussion, in this month of NaPoWriMo -- and always an issue for bloggers, who feel a constant pressure to produce . . . something.

Still in the midst of trying to produce a poem-a-day, it's too soon for me to assess the quantity/ quality issue in my own work, but it's certainly true that I've explored areas (sometimes in desperation) that I otherwise might not have ventured into. A bit closer to the edge, perhaps. Easing the expectation of (at least minimal) quality can be freeing, no question.

Whether one ought to inflict the results on others is another issue, also discussed in the comments to the above post.

And my dogs may not be beautiful, but they are, I am told by strangers in the park, adorable.

Comments

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At various times in the last several years I have spent a month writing daily poems, and I always find the process useful. I don't always like what I write, but there is, as you say, something liberating about releasing oneself from the expectation of quality -- which can paradoxically result in really high-quality work sometimes. :-) Also, when one is writing that many poems, one needn't get hung up on any particular one.

I know what you mean Sharon. I have a couple poems I'm not too sure about.(I haven't posted them yet) But when it's heading for the 11th hour and you still don't have a poem. Things do get interesting.